


A Storms Reflection

by Illumini



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 13:58:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16476866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Illumini/pseuds/Illumini
Summary: When Sarah first run the Labyrinth she never bothered to read the contract that she made with the Goblin King. Now at Toby's 16. Birthay the Goblin King is back to make Sarah run his Labyrinth all over again.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all!  
> I wrote this story back in 2016. My intial intention was to write a Dark-Jareth story , but I think I am just unable to, since I love happy endings so much. Also I can not write anything that would hurt Sarah or make Jareth look like a real bad guy. So sorry if the tone changed over the course of the story. Also I wrote this over some months, which made me forget a lot about my initial storyline. Please enjoy nevertheless!

A storm was coming. The whole day tv news and on radio there was no other topic.

' _Don't leave your house after six! Keep all doors and windows closed. Keep your children and animals safe inside. Watch out for falling items'_

Sarah though that it was quite exaggerated but since the news had nothing else to talk about it only made sense, that they would use this topic to fill the space.

When Sarah left her work at half past five the sky was already black. The clouds had gathered together and it was the calm before the storm. You could feel it in the air that something was about to happen. Sarah did not fancy to still be outside when the rain would start crashing down, so she hurried home as fast as possible.

Just a few meters before she reached her apartment building door the wind became much stronger and the first drops poured down from heaven. Sarah cursed that this was not fair and run full speed to the door.

When she entered the hall of the building, she checked her mailbox and entered the elevator for the 6th floor. When she reached her apartment she unlocked the door and entered relieved while switching on the light.

Outside it was already pitch black. The rain was hammering against her windows and the storm was howling as if it was about to push the building to the ground.

Sarah hastily got rid of her wet clothes and found herself something comfortable to wear from her bedroom. She then made some hot water in the kitchen for tea to warm her from the inside. She loved being at her small 2 room flat. It had everything she needed. Some shelves stuffed with books, a desk to draw if she had the time and of course her sofa with the cozy blanket. Especially today was a very good day to spent the time reading while outside the world was falling down.

When she heard the first thunder she flinched and nearly dropped her steaming tea.

'It's just the weather, nothing to worry about,' she assured herself and put the tea on the table. She checked again if all windows were closed and stopped at the window in her living-room to see what was going on outside. There was not much to see though since the rain was so thick it blurred her view completely.

She shrugged and drew the curtain. In the same moment another lightning flashed outside and was followed by a deafening thunder and everything around Sarah went black.

She could not help it but cry out in shock. 'Damn you, Blackout!' she swore to no one in particular and it took her a few seconds to calm herself down. After a minute the room was still dark and she decided to check upon the fuses.

Slowly she fumbled through the darkness to prevent herself from knocking things over. When she had nearly reached her destination she suddenly heard a sound behind her. She stopped all her motions immediately and also paused her breathing so she could hear where this sound was coming from.

' _Steps...,_ ' she thought in terror. Someone was moving in her living-room. Her head was racing. Someone was in her flat, during a blackout and a storm outside. Maybe no one would even hear her scream. This could be a psycho, a murderer, a rapist. She needed to act fast, if she wanted to save herself.

She calmed herself a little bit down and went through her options. It was her flat, so she knew the territory much better than the intruder, especially in darkness. She would sneak into her bedroom and get her phone and then lock herself in the bathroom to call the police. When the plan was ready in her head, she slowly started to move, while her ears were listening for any sound that would tell her what the person in her room was up to. To her great relief she made it to her bedroom without making any sound at all and she allowed herself to take a deep breath before she moved further on. Grabbing her phone from the drawer she tiptoed to the bathroom. Very slowly she closed the door and when the door was closed she hastily moved the key to lock the door. When she was sure, that the door was closed for now, she took the phone and pressed any key to turn on the display.

'Please charge' was the last thing it showed her before the screen went black again. Sarah would have screamed, but she did not dare. When she was about to calculate her options to leave the room for the charger she suddenly heard a male voice right behind her and her body went still at once.

'Hello Sarah, long time not seen.'

When she was about to unlock the door to flea from the stranger behind her, suddenly one arm grabbed her and held her tight to the faceless form behind her back.

'Precious, that is not a very friendly welcome.'

Sarah wanted to cry out in terror and maybe get the attention of her neighbors with a yell, but the stranger held her mouth shut with his other hand, while she was pinned to his chest.  
Although she wanted to drop dead right now, she could not help but think that the voice was strangely familiar.  
'Don't you remember me my dear Sarah?' the voice was mocking her, 'and I thought I left a deeper impression.'

Sarah tried to struggle free, but his grip was firm like iron. Soon she had to give up upon the effort in order to keep her strength for later, if there was a later she added grimly.

'I am sure you remember the Labyrinth,' the voice whispered into her ear.

His words sunk in very, very slowly. After over ten years Sarah had accepted that her little travel to the labyrinth must have been a very vivid teenage-dream.

But for a reason Sarah could not explain at all, it seemed that the Goblin King himself had returned to her to start a new kind of nightmare. There were only two possibilities: if the goblin king was indeed standing behind her it had all been real and no dream and she was in immediate danger or if it was someone else standing behind her and having his gloved hand over her mouth she had lost her mind and was about to become crazy, just like all her friends had already promised her for years. Still in both cases, she was in danger.  
'Hmmm,' she hummed more to herself than to him, but still he released his hand from her mouth and turned her around. A bright crystal was floating in midair blinding Sarah while she tried to make out the person in front of her.  
When her eyes got used to the light she finally saw, that is was indeed the Goblin King standing in her bathroom. There was not much that could happen to add to the grotesque scene.

As far as she could tell the king had chosen a modest dress for his visit, he was wearing his usual tight pants, but accompanied only by a simple grey shirt with a deep cleavage, revealing the golden horned amulet.  
'Jareth...,'she gasped.  
He made a small bow and then without another word he pressed her close to him and kissed her.  
Sarah was not able to react to this. Things were happening way too fast for her brain to manage. The blackout, a stranger in her flat, who turned out to be no stranger per se but the Goblin King from her magical trip to the Labyrinth 15 years ago and now this man, who she never stopped dreaming about, was kissing her, without her permission of course.

It was not entirely unpleasant but still it was wrong the way it was happening right now and Sarah became anxious.

She wondered why the Goblin King was here, what did he actually want from her and why now? Was he perhaps maybe still a psycho or a murderer? In the end he was able to use magic, so there was not much Sarah could do to protect herself from his influence. He could trick her into whatever he liked and she would not even realize it, she feared.  
' _Damn you Jareth!_ ' she thought while she realized at the same time what a good kisser he was. She really needed to focus, she scolded herself! Quickly she took his gloved hands an slowly caressed them and then pushed them away from her. When Jareth finally gave in into her motion he let go of her.  
'Don't you ever dare do this again!' she glowered at him.

'Why not my dear? I rather enjoyed it and I think you did, too,' he chuckled.

'You did not have my permission to do this!' Sarah replied. She hoped it was dark enough, that he would not realize her flushed cheeks.  
'I am a king. I take whatever I want, but I get the idea love.'  
'Well,' Sarah started to divert the attention, 'don't you think that this is an odd place for a reunion?' She gestured around the bathroom.  
'Indeed,' he nodded and he held her close again. Suddenly Sarah was bathed in light and when she blinked she realized she was now standing in her bedroom. Jareth had left her side and was leaning against the wall on the other side of her bed. He was watching her. 'Not remotely better,' she mused about his choice of place.

While both of them were now only looking at each other, Sarah knew that it was was a kind of staring contest. She was his prey and as soon as she would move, he would be at her. Her mind raced and she did the only thing he would maybe not expect her to do. She dropped to the ground right in the spot and sat on her carpet, crossing her arms and legs, glowering at the king.

'So, will you mayhaps tell me now why you are here?'

Jareth chuckled from across the room and with a a few gracefull steps he was again standing right before her, his face towering above her, his gaze was intense.

'No,' was his simple response and he took a place next to her on the ground and grinned at her.

Sarah was at a loss for words. This man was infuriating and for all she knew, he was not even supposed to be real.

'Ok you just happened to drop by, saying hello and then you are off again?' she raised an eyebrow fearing the answer.

Jareth laughed, it did not quite sound the way she would hoped. It had an evil touch to it, promising that nothing good would come of it.

'I won't be “of again”. I have some plans with you, precious.' He leaned closer again one hand reaching for her chin. Sarah dodged it and slapped his hand away.

'I don't want any part in your “plans”! I want you to leave right now.' She hissed at him, but it only added to his amusement.

'You are still such a cat. But that's the trick, you only need to know where to stroke them.' And without a chance to avoid his touch this time he had pinned her to the ground, sitting on top of her.

Because of this sudden impact Sarah needed to gasp for breath. The Goblin King had positioned himself like an expert, locking her hands away with his legs. He leaned in very close, his hair was tickling her skin, but she did not feel like laughing. She felt the urge to hit something.

'Sarah love, you really do smell nice. I think we will have a lot of fun this time.' Jareth hands cupped her face and his gaze was intense, only his smile was cruel and wicked.

'Tell me Sarah, what was it you always kept telling me? What were those words you spit in my face when I offered you my heart?' His grip was not soft anymore but started to hurt her cheeks. Sarah knew exactly the words. ' _You have no power over me,_ ' she thought, but he had no intention on repeating it now.

'Right,' he answered for her, 'I have no power over you.' His words were only whispers but they stung like knifes.

'Seeing you like this, precious, I think I have all the power in the world over you.' And he kissed her again unbidden. Sarah did not respond, she only stared at the King and waited for it to end.

Somehow this was ridiculous. She tried so hard to forget this man, but he had always hunted her dreams. Especially when she was older, she could not stop herself from dreaming being very intimate with Jareth. But now...this was very different. Now that he was really at her side, kissing her, it was a different Jareth. It was the part she always had tried to forget. The Goblin King was no fairy prince, he was cruel and dangerous and if best one should avoid him at all costs.

'Not in the mood right now, hm?' he joked and with one swift motion he was standing next to her, tapping his feet impatiently and his arms crossed again.

Sarah's eyes did not follow him. She stared at the ceiling waiting for whatever would happen next.

'Doesn't matter. I have prepared a lot of wonderful things for you I am sure you will enjoy SOME of them immensely.'

Suddenly Sarah had a feeling of nausea. If Jareth was promising her a good time, this could only mean the end of the world. It was no use, she decided. If she had to go through this, she would do it without surrender. Sarah stood up and stemmed her hands into her sides, lifting her chin.

'So?' she demanded, standing too close to Jareth but not flinching at his movement.

He slid his cape around her and everything went black. When she opened her eyes again she was standing in a fast field. Next to her was a crocked tree with gnarled limbs. Next to it was a grandfather clock with 13 hours and in front of her was the Labyrinth in all his splendour.

' _Back again,_ ' Sarah though to herself. She was not eager to run the Labyrinth but at least she would be safe from Jareth in it or so she hoped.

Of course he was standing next to her, watching her expression. He was smiling broadly like a child on Christmas.

Sarah really got annoyed by this but tried to hide it as best as she could.

'The Labyrinth again? Were you not able to come up with something new?' she mocked him.

The King lay an arm around her waist and pulled her close.

'But it is all shiny and new. Things are not always the way they appear at first glance. I thought you learned this already the hard way.'

Sarah's head turned again in the direction of the Labyrinth. In her opinion nothing had changed, not even the tree she was standing next to.

Maybe he was trying to make her afraid of the task or maybe he was right. Before she was able to decide on one thing or the other, Jareth hand gripped her chin and moved her head to face him again.

'You know the rules? 13 hours to reach the castle beyond the Goblin city.'

Sarah suddenly struck an idea.

'What's the bargain here? I did not ask you for anything?'

Jareth closed his eyes, nodded slowly and added, 'Not quite. If you win, you can go home, if you lose you will stay Underground, love me, fear me and be my slave.'

He grinned.

Sarah was not very happy about this. This was about her life and how to spent the rest of it. Still, for Sarah this made no sense. The first time she asked him to do something for her and when she wanted to take it back, he offered her to run the Labyrinth instead. This time she had not even asked him to come, let alone spent any kind of thought about him.

'That's no bargain at all,' she pointed out, 'there is nothing for you to lose.'

Jareth chuckled.

'That's what it makes it so much more fun.'

He let go of her chin and made one step backwards. Sarah was relieved to have some room for herself again.

'Sarah, do you know what day it is?' The Goblin King crossed his arms in front of his chest, his tone suddenly very serious.

Sarah's brain tried to make any sense of this question, but she was not able to come up with anything.

'I don't know, Friday?'

'It's your brothers birthday, love. Quite shocking that you of all people would not remember this day.'

' _Damn it, Toby!_ ' she thought. She really had forgotten his birthday. She meant to call him when she returned from work, but then there was this storm, the blackout and....Jareth.

She tried to focus again and let him not distract her.

'Ok and why is this important to you?' she retorted.

'It's his 16. birthday, which means in terms of the Underground he is off age. He is an adult now.'

Jareth made a pause to check on Sarah's reaction. Since none came he continued.

'That means that he does not need the protection of a guardian anymore,' he pointed at Sarah.

'Which then again means, the guardian needs to run the Labyrinth again.'

'You made that thing up just now!' Sarah nearly yelled. 'You never mentioned anything like this before!'

Jareth lifted a finger to make her pause, but Sarah nearly jumped at him. He dodged the attack and as if nothing happened he continued, while Sarah was glowering at him.

'No, it's in the contract, which you never asked for to read and study. But let me explain, if you so desire it.'

'Toby was wished away. Since he was just a toddler he was not able to run the Labyrinth himself. Therefore a guardian can jump in and try to rescue the child. That person can be anyone, not necessarily the one who made the wish. Usually in the past it was the father wishing away the cursed child and the mother would try to prevent it. Much to my entertainment.'

He smiled a knowing smile which made Sarah feel very sick.

'Usually they lose. Women are way too sentimental and full of dreams. It's easy to trick them.'

'I won!' Sarah said proudly.

'Yes...an exception. But that's where the second part of the contract applies. If a guardian wins he can keep the child, but as soon as the child becomes an adult, he needs no protection anymore and as a compensation for the child that was taken from me, the guardian will join me in the Underground.'

'But then a guardian can never win! His life is forfeit the moment he steps in for the child!' Sarah protested and her hands were flying through the air, trying to make a point.

'Indeed,' was Jareth simple answer.

'But, since I am a noble King each guardian has a chance to escape his fate. He may run the Labyrinth again. It's really more up to you. You can do it or you just accept your fate in the Underground.'

'Never!' Sarah narrowed her eyes. She was about to cry, but she would not show him this weakness. She always knew that Jareth was playing against the rules, but she never thought that he was this cruel.

'That's what I thought, too and that's why we are here my love.'

'Don't prepare a bed for me, I won't stay long.'

With this Sarah turned her back on him and started into the direction of the Labyrinth. Jareth was laughing behind her.

'Why would I prepare a bed? An Oublitte will do much better.'

Sarah did not turn back, she just shook her head, focusing on the task before her.

 


	2. Chapter 2

When she approached the outer walls she remembered that she did not know where the entrance was. The first time Hoggle showed her. It was very much unlikely that Jareth would allow him to be here. She wanted to turn and check if he was still observing her, but her pride forbid it. Even if he was not standing at the tree anymore, she was sure that he was watching her in his crystals.

'Ok...where to start?' She touched the wall. There was absolutely nothing special about it. It was old, kind of dirty and covered in vine.

'I want to enter the Labyrinth.' she exclaimed. Nothing happened. From somewhere she heard someone laughing. She cursed herself for assuming the door would just swing open. If there was no way in like this, she needed to find a different path.

She walked a bit on, from time to time she was touching the wall before her and pressing softly against the bricks. In the end Sarah decided this would bring her nowhere. She had to work with the things at hand. There was a wall, no door, and a lot of wild plants were covering most of the bricks.

Sarah inspected one of the vines that made the impression as if it could be solid enough to provide some hold to climb.

A first yank on the material proved to be worth a try. Sarah gripped a handful of it and dragged herself up. Easy enough she also found some support for her feet. Slowly but steady she saw some improvement, still she was sure that something was about to happen. Maybe Jareth would interfere and forbid to simply climb into the Labyrinth or the plant would split and Sarah would be lucky if she would only break her leg. When she turned her eyes away from the task ahead of her, she realized that she had already come quite far and from now on she did not fancy hitting the ground again.

Finally she reached the top and lifted herself up the last part. She was completely exhausted already and breathed a few times in and out before she was amazed by the view.

Before her she could overlook the complete Labyrinth. She could see the outer rim and the inner maze and far away at the horizon she was able to see the castle beyond the Goblin city.

'Not far at all,' she mumbled to herself. Sadly the outer wall was not connected anywhere to the maze, therefore she was not able to simply walk over the walls. Which meant that the next part for her would be to climb down. Sarah looked down at the bottom and raised her eyebrows. She came this far, certainly this would not stop her. Again she took a few branches in her hands and slowly searched for support with her dangling feet.

To her relief she made it to the bottom in one piece. The moment she stepped down from the wall it started to rumble and next to her a huge gate swung open, revealing the entrance to the Labyrinth.

'Ha ha...very funny.' she said humorlessly, 'as if I would leave now that I made it in.'

With this the gate slammed shut again and Sarah was standing in the dark corridor that only led left or right. Sarah debated with herself which way she should turn. The first time she went right, maybe she should do it again. Then again she was only lucky when the tiny worm had shown her the secret trick to find the way further into the maze.

If she was lucky again she would maybe find the opening in the wall, but it was also possible that the other way was much easier.

Since Sarah did not feel very adventures today she went right. The way stretched on and on forever and while she moved steadily forward Sarah's left hand was sweeping over the surface of the sparkling bricks in order to find the opening that was not visible to the eye.

Finally what felt like ages for her, her hand lost contact and there was hole in the wall. Cautiously Sarah peeked around the corners. Left and right. It looked exactly the way it did the last time and Sarah started to wonder if Jareth had lied to her when he had told her that the Labyrinth was a different one this time.

Again she needed to decide if she would like to turn left or right. Her eyes darted from one side to the other and in the end she turned left. 'What the heck...' she shrugged and walked around the corner.

Suddenly she was nearly blinded by a bright light and her hands flew up to her eyes to shield them from the impact. When she had finally adjusted to the scene, she realized that in front of her was something like a desert. Fine yellow and orange sand was covering the ground and it looked as if it was endlessly stretching itself out into the horizon.

Sarah turned around but instead of the opening she had just entered through there was only a wall. 'Damn it!' she cursed. The vast plain was not very inviting at all and on top of it, the sun was burning like hell. She already felt thirsty now that she came to think about it. Since she had no other choice she started to walk on. It felt like she was walking for ages, when she stopped to catch her breath again. The only landmark was the wall behind her, so she turned around again to see how far she had come.

The wall was still right behind her.

'WHAT!?' she screamed. 'NO, No! This can not be, this is not fair at all!'

She scratched at the wall and her head darted towards the sand again. This was impossible, she had nearly walked for half an hour straight.

Still it was the Labyrinth where everything was possible.

With one swift motion Sarah turned and dashed as fast as possible forward. She ran high speed until she could not run anymore, when she turned her head towards the wall, she had not made one step forwards.

'How am I supposed to move forward if I am only getting back to the start?!' she asked no one in particular. Sarah made a face and lifted her left hand to her chin to think while her eyes where still focused onto the wall. While she was still thinking she made a few steps back. 'How, how how? There must be a trick.'

Again she made several steps backwards lost deep in her thoughts, when she finally realized what had happened.

'HA!' she rejoiced. 'That's it!'

While she was unintentionally walking backwards she had already put some distance between herself and the wall.

'I need to walk backwards instead of forwards in order to go on!'

She tried to hide a grin and slowly made one step backwards after another. The distance between her and the wall was growing with every step. Sarah would have loved to see Jareth's face now. She felt sorry for the poor Goblins who would now have to suffer his rage. He clearly thought very little of her abilities giving her such an easy task to solve.

After a while Sarah felt the ground under her feet change and looked down. Instead of sand there was now green and soft moss. When she turned around she stood at the edge of a wood.

Sarah was immediately reminded of her encounter with the fireys and started to shudder. If possible she would like to avoid meeting those creatures again at all costs.

She entered the wood hesitantly and immediately her surrounding started to change. There were huge trees with gnarled branches and dark leaves everywhere and instead of the burning sun from the desert before it was quite chilly and a soft breeze made the leaves rustle. Also there was the obligatory glitter on the trees and the ground. Besides the leaves there were not much other sounds to be heard and Sarah had to listen to her own heartbeat and breathing.

She walked on slowly, following a path that might lead her nowhere, but somehow Sarah was sure that if a path was available she was supposed to use it.

From time to time she looked back,checking that she was really moving forwards. When she turned her head again to check she suddenly saw something moving at the corner of her eye. She froze and tried to stay calm. Slowly she turned her head in the direction of the movement and suddenly looked into a face.

Sarah was so shocked that she could not help put scream and stumble backwards into a tree.

Finally her head was able to process what she was seeing. She was staring at herself. Looking rather foolish with eyes wide open and pressing her back at one of the glittering trees.

'It's a mirror.' she realized and her breath became steady again while she dared to come closer to inspect it. Her hand was stroking her reflection, which was doing the same from the other side of the mirror.

'What is a mirror doing in the middle of a forest?' she wondered, but in reality she was not the slightest surprised. She only pondered about what she had to expect from this. If Jareth was putting a mirror into his Labyrinth this had a meaning to it.

Sarah shrugged it of and waved at her reflection to move on, but instead she faced another Sarah from a second mirror.

She stopped dead, looking bewildered. Again she moved past the second mirror only to find her reflection duplicated a hundred times.

There were mirrors all around her. She turned and moved, but each direction she looked into, she only found another Sarah asking her silently why there was another Sarah.

'It's a maze made of mirrors....' she said and shook her head. She hated these kind of things.

When she was only 10 years old she went into such a maze once on a fair, when she thought it would be fun.

After only 10 minutes she was a crying puddle on the floor, completely lost and one of the attendants had to come inside to lead her back out, while she was still sobbing like crazy. When she was back in her stepmothers arms, she did not even care that it was her and not her dad. She was only grateful to be out of that thing again.

Sarah felt her herself getting nervous. She was a grown up, she told herself. She could handle this, there was no problem at all.

She stretched her hands out until she had contact with the cold surface of the next mirror. Then she made a few steps to the side, sliding her hands over the blank material and she bumped directly into the next obstacle. When she realized that it was the next mirror she hissed, but she forbid herself to scream or cry, she would not allow Jareth to see any of her weakness. Never!

While she wandered around aimlessly hitting one mirror or the other from time to time she suddenly remembered something.

When the young man had come to rescue her 10 year old self from the labyrinth at the fair, he had tried to distract her, while he explained what the trick was to find the exit.

Since little Sarah had been really shaken by the experience she had not bothered to listen, but now it had suddenly reappeared in her mind.

'The trick is to not look into the mirror. They are only here for distraction. You have to look at your feet. If you do this, you will see the edge of each mirror and you can avoid hitting them by accident. This way you can easily follow the way out.'

'Of course...,' she whispered and looked down at the bottom. 'Come on feet, lets go,' she commanded and followed the lines around the mirrors. From time to time she ended up in a dead end, but she was making much more progress now than before.

She wondered if Jareth was laughing at her now, since she must have looked completely ridiculous staring at her feet like this, or if he was all rage kicking goblins through the throne room.

When she finally realized that there were no more lines to follow, she dared to look up again. Before her was a normal looking path through the woods surrounded by thick, old trees. As she turned around there was a mirror right behind her, sealing off the exit of the maze. In the mirror Sarah's reflection started to contort and when suddenly the Goblin King's cold eyes met her own, she turned as fast as possible to run, but of course Jareth was faster.

His hands grabbed her around her waist and he pulled her close, her back pinned to his chest and his arms tight like a rope.

The moment he started to speak, his lips were close to her ear, making her hair stand up.

'It's astounding how you always find a way to cheat yourself out of trouble, Precious.'

Sarah wanted to object to this, but he stopped her, when his lips made contact with the soft skin around her ear lobe.

'You were supposed to enter the Labyrinth through the gate, but you climb above, you were supposed to walk forwards through the sand, but walked backwards and now you are supposed to watch yourself get lost and you refuse to watch.'

His nose was teasing her hair and Jareth seemed to very much enjoy himself.

'I think since you have twisted the rules to your liking already three times, it's my turn to change something now.'

At that instant the old clock with the 13 hours appeared next to her and from her remaining seven hours three were removed.

'Four hours!! You only leave me four hours?! That's not f...,' but before she could end her sentence, Jareth did.

'Fair? No my dear, life is not fair. I thought you already learned this lesson the last time you were my guest.'

Sarah only opened and closed her mouth, but was not able to reply anything. It was his kingdom, there was not much to complain about. The rules were his and if he wanted them to change, there was no stopping to it.

'Sarah, I want you to think about this. Maybe you can for once stop thinking that I am the villain. You should also consider what I am offering to you.' One hand let go of her and gestured around the place.

'All of this at your command. All of this under your reign as my queen. We both ruling together for eternity.'

His free hand returned to Sarah's side and gently stroked her arm, his lips again very close to her ear.

'I have seen your dreams Sarah Williams. All of them. There is nothing that can be hidden from me at night. I am the maker of dreams and I am very much aware that you desire me.'

While Sarah had listened silently to Jareths word, she suddenly felt extremely uneasy trapped in his arms. She felt herself blushing, cursing herself for reacting to his soothing words.

Maybe he was just making things up, her inner voice tried to convince her, when she was again distracted by Jareth.

'I know that you were dreaming of this...' he breathed into her hair, while his hand was slowly making his way up from her waist to her breast.

She inhaled sharply, very much aware of Jareth behind her and how very close they were standing. She could feel all of his body, especially the one very inviting part, that told her how much he might also be wanting this.

Jareth started to kiss her neck while his other hand trailed over her body. Although everything felt very much right to Sarah, there was also a lot wrong in his touch.

' _He is distracting you!_ ' her inner voice screamed, ' _he wants you to lose control, just like the last time with the poisoned peach!_ '

But what did it matter? His kisses felt like heaven Sarah wanted to rejoice. Maybe it was not such a bad idea at all, becoming his queen. Maybe his feelings were real...

And right when this thought hit her mind she went rigid under his touch.

'You are making this up... nothing is the way it seems, it's just a story!' Sarah pushed herself forward, finally free of Jareth's firm grip. She turned around, facing him with a bitter smile.

'It's all a lie! Changing the rules again, isn't it?'

The Goblin King looked as cool as if nothing had happened while Sarah's cheeks were flushed and her emotions were plainly written in her face.

Jareth crossed his arms in front of him and tzsked before he shook his head.

'So you rather choose a life working 24/7 in a boring office, when you could have this? You are always a surprise, but don't expect me to give in, when you change your mind. If you come begging into my castle, don't expect me to feel sorry for you. Lead on your life as an ordinary human woman, meeting ordinary man, living an average life and dying full of regret. Don't expect me to even bother!' He spat at her, his eyes cold as ice. Instinctively Sarah made a step back, but when she did she fell into darkness. Her scream echoed at the walls and then everything was black.

 


	3. Chapter 3

The first thing Sarah realized was her uneven breath. There was no sound around her and no light. The only thing she could hear was her breath and her heartbeat, which was faster than she would have liked. She was lying on the ground. She was not sure for how long she had already been lying here, but she decided that it was time to get up. Her hands started to feel their way around in the darkness. There were cold stones under her, maybe a bit mossy. When she made contact with something wet she shrugged, but it was only a puddle, or so she hoped. There was a wall of stone next to her and she lifted herself up, following the wall through the darkness with her hand.

Suddenly realization hit her and she let her forehead hit the wall.

'An Oubliette....,' she whispered and closed her eyes, although it was completely unnecessary since it was already pitch black in this dungeon.

Sarah turned around and slid back to the ground, leaning her back on the wall. She lifted her knees to her head and formed a ball, resting her head on her knees and putting her hands around her legs. There was no hope for her this time. She was sure that no Hoggle, Ludo or Sir Dydimus would show up to rescue her. She would have to stay in this place forever, forgotten by the world.

Jareth cold eyes when he had sentenced her to an eternity in an oubliette, were hunting her. He had looked hurt. Sarah could not explain this, since Jareth was cruel and cunning, but the only time he had looked at her like this was in the Escher room at the final showdown.

The first tear made it's way over her cheek, falling to the cold ground. She tried to control herself, tried to breath steady, but the past six hours had just been too overwhelming.

Of course Jareth had been right about her dreams. She had never stopped dreaming about the Goblin King. The older she got, the more intimate they became, but he had hunted her at every corner of her life. She was not able to settle with any man, because she always compared them to him. But at the same time, she was afraid of Jareth. He seemed very much like the bad boy you should not trust, especially not when it came to live changing decisions like “Do you want to marry me and become my queen?”.

It was simply ridiculous. She had waited for such a long time for him to return! Sometimes she had spoken the words: “I wish the Goblin King would come and take me. Right now.” She had tried to offer herself, she had tried to call him, screamed at him. She once spoke to an owl in a zoo which had very much looked like Jareth. But it was all in vain. After 10 years, she tried to convince herself, that Jareth was not real. That he had only been a dream.

After another 5 years she was sure that she was crazy, falling for someone she had invented as a teenager. She had tried it with a therapy, but when she realized that they were not taking her serious she had stopped it immediately.

And now he was back. Just like this, asking her to stay forever and she slapped him in his face with a “No”.

He did exactly what she had asked the last 15 years of her life and Sarah Williams refused the offer, again. If he was hurt, there was nothing to blame him for. She would feel the same. He came back for her and she was afraid to accept her feelings.

Her inner voice reminded her that he came back because of the rules, but still, since he had no queen up to now, it seemed like he was not offering himself lightly to every women entering his kingdom.

She was such an idiot. Now she would rot here forever and Jareth would find some other woman to eventually share his life with.

Sarah started to sob again and fresh tears were falling down her cheeks. There was absolutely no way she could find a way out of the Oubliette. It was built without doors, since no one would bother to visit.

When she realized that her only hope was Jareth she felt extremely bad for it. After all she had done, she was sure that he would not forgive her, but she had to try.

'Jareth?' she asked timidly. There was no answer, but she did not expect him to come for her straight away. She stood up from the ground and wiped the tears of her face with the back of her hand.

'Jareth?! Please?' she tried it a bit louder. Still there was no reply.

'Goblin King! Help me, please!'

Sarah tried this several times. Sometimes shouting, sometimes pleading, or even demanding, but there was only her voice echoing back to her from the walls.

She took a deep breath. There was only one way to get the kings attention.

'I want to do a bargain!' she called out and to add a serious impression she also put her hands at her side, lifting her head up.

Suddenly a tiny light flickered in the corner next to her and Sarah turned into it's direction. It was Jareth balancing a tiny crystal in one hand as if he had stood there from the beginning. His eyes were fixed on the tiny ball that spread a little light over his face. He looked rather bored from what Sarah could tell.

'I want to...' she started but Jareth interrupted her.

'I heard you very well, but I don't think that you have anything to offer that I would be interested in.' he told her, still playing with the glass orb.

'Then why are you here?' Sarah asked boldly.

Jareth looked up at her, his expression unreadable, but at the same moment he stopped moving the crystal.

'Curiosity,' was his simple reply.

When Sarah had called out for him, she had not thought of anything she could offer. She was sure that she would have an idea, when the moment came, but right now her mind was simply blank.

'Well...,' she started transfixed by his gaze and when she did not continue, Jareth raised an eyebrow.

'If you have nothing to offer, then I am wasting my time.' he said and the room went dark again.

'No!' Sarah yelled and moved forwards in order to grip Jareths hand or anything that might stop him. She ran directly into him and the light went on again. Jareth laid an arm around her waist and purred into her face.

'What do you offer?'

Sarah felt very much distracted by the closeness of the Goblin King but she managed to answer him.

'I offer you...my dreams.'

Now she had the Kings full attention. He looked at her as if she was mental, but then he stared to grin. It was not a smile, but an evil grin and the moment she saw it, she would have loved to take the words back.

He started to laughed loudly and his eyes were sparkling. Sarah felt the urge to narrow her statement a bit and hastily added.

'Well, of course not all of them, but one, only one. You can choose and we will share it, just like the one dream in the ball room.'

Sarah was sure he would object, but he simply nodded, still smiling and he put something into her hand.

'What is it?' Sarah asked and lifted the object up to inspect it. Of course it was a peach and Sarah frowned at it.

'This is your dream of my choosing, but there won't be any running away this time. You will have to experience it until the very end. Don't be afraid love,' he kissed her onto the forehead, 'the dream time won't be removed from the 13 hours. I want both of us to have enough time to fully enjoy this.'

Sarah felt very sick and the sweet smell of the peach did not improve it. Whatever dream Jareth had picked for her, she was sure she would not like his choice.

She bit into the peach, the sweet juice was filling her mouth and she swallowed hard, while Jareth gaze was intense.

Sarah stared to feel dizzy and when she was about to fall, Jareth held her and the last thing she heard was his voice.

'Sleep my love, sleep.'

 

Sarah opened her eyes. She was lying in a bed, covered in white sheets. The room was not her own, but it looked a lot like it would belong into a castle. There was a dusky sun shining through a window at the other side of the room and next to the bed there was a fire crackling in a fireplace.

The bed felt very comfortable and she stretched. That was the moment when she realized that she was not wearing any clothes.

Normally this would not have bothered her at all, but since she knew that the real Jareth was also a part of this dream she yanked the bed sheet higher to cover her up as best as she could.

And then she heard his voice right next to her.

'I think it's rather rude to have the sheet all for yourself, love.'

Sarah blinked and did not dare to move, but she could not help but realize that Jareth was lying right next to her and since she had all the cover for herself he was also very much naked.

She put a hand to her face to cover her eyes.

So it was that kind of a dream. She cursed Jareth for choosing this one and she cursed herself even more for dreaming something like this up. She would never make it through this dream alive.

'What's wrong with you Sarah?' Jareth asked and crawled nearer to her, which made Sarah lift up the fabric in order to hide from him.

'Now, now, you really don't need to hide. There is nothing I did not see before.'

Sarah was sure that her head was already red like a tomato, but when she finally peeked up from under the sheet, she saw Jareths bare chest and her cheeks became flames.

'I am going to kill you for this.' Sarah mumbled from under her cover and Jareth answered with a light laugh.

'You know as much as I do, how this is going to end. You can fight it or you can enjoy it. It's up to you. If you fight, I will enjoy it even more. I think you were a bit too submissive in your dreams for my taste. I enjoy a little resistance before, it's making things much more interesting.'

'You are disgusting!' she observed and threw her cover back, but not so far as to reveal her breasts.

She looked at him. He was of course rather beautiful, but he even looked a bit innocent the way he had propped his head on his arm. His blond hair was quite a mess but it framed his face in a very flattering way. His hole body was muscular, without looking like it was too much. It fitted all perfectly together.

'You like what you see?' Jareth teased her. 'Maybe I am not as disgusting as you might think.'

He raised himself up so that their faces came close.

'Do I really have to do this?' she swallowed.

'Yes,' was his simple answer, but his tone was soft and he leaned in closer to her and kissed her.

Sarah did not avoid this, she also adjusted her position a little so that she could kiss him back.

The moment their lips met, she felt that it was so much different from the times before. This time he had not forced it on her, but she could have stopped him. Maybe it was because this was her dream and he needed to act accordingly, but maybe he also felt a bit insecure in this particular situation.

There was no cool glitter outfit and no make-up that could divert the attention. This dream was all about feelings.

The kiss felt wonderful she observed and when they parted again both of them were silent for a while, watching the others face for whatever sign there might be to see.

Sarah lifted one of her hands up and stroked his cheek. He watched her curios, but did not interrupt, while she studied his features.

When her hand was trailing down his chest he flinched a bit and Sarah stopped immediately to check his face, if she did something wrong.

Jareth reached out for her hand and to put it back at the spot where she had stopped and he smiled at her encouraging.

She explored his chest some more until Jareth could not hold back anymore. He leaned closer into her and started to kiss her neck. Because of the sudden impact Sarah fell backwards onto the pillow and the blanket was not covering very much of her anymore. For once she did not care.

Jareth's kisses were warm and claiming. Sarah could not help but whimper while she buried her hands into his hair to keep him doing what he was doing.

The rest of her body seemed to have a mind of it's own, since it tried to reduce the distance between hers and his body as much as possible.

When Jareth softly bit at a soft spot at her neck she gasped his name, which encourage the king even more. Suddenly his hands were all over her. Sarah closed her eyes while his hands had reached her breasts. At first he was rather careful, but the moment he realized that Sarah's moans became louder he kissed and licked her everywhere.

Sarah was about to burst into a thousand glittering pieces and she felt very ready for more. She cupped Jareth cheeks with her hands and gave him a nod as a sign that she was ok if he would take them on the next level.

Jareth nodded back and kissed her hand. When he entered her, the world seemed to shift a bit for Sarah and for one tiny second she felt sorry that it was only a dream and not real at all, still it felt wonderful to her and she kissed Jareth passionately until they both came together and the world fell down for Sarah Williams.

 


	4. Chapter 4

Sarah opened her eyes and she was surprised to see that she did not see anything. She put her hands up to her face to make sure that her eyes were open, but there was nothing preventing her from seeing. It was just very much dark.

Her hands were feeling the ground and there was only stone. She jumped to her feet, fumbling for the walls around her.

'The Oublitte...why am I still here??'

If Jareth thought this was funny he was very much mistaken. 'Jareth! JARETH!' she screamed, but there was no answer. He had betrayed her, she finally realized and humiliation mixed with rage was trying to surface in her emotions.

The tears burned in her eyes, when she wiped them away. There was nothing to cry about, she only fell for his tricks. She had offer herself freely, it was her own fault. She should have said 'I offer you my dreams, if you help me to get out.' but since she missed on adding the important part, she was stuck in here forever.

She must have been crazy to think that Jareth might actually be in love with her. In her dream it had very much felt like it, but in the end it was only just this, a dream.

'Think Sarah....think...' she reminded herself in the depressing silence of the room. 'Options...what kind of options do you have? Another bargain?' she flinched, if she would ever see Jareth face again he would claw his eyes out, so no, this was not an option.

Maybe her friends could help. Maybe she had just assumed that they would not be able to help her, but maybe this assumption alone was already wrong.

'Hoggle?? Ludo?? Sir Dydimus?? Anyone???!!'

She tried this several times, but there was no answer. The next thing she tried was too grope for any kind of doorknob, but she was also not very successful at this. She fell to the ground again, desperate, when she suddenly heard some indistinct mumble.

'hmnhmanmham'

'Hello?' she whispered.

'HM! HM!' came the reply and Sarah felt something moving under her, which made her immediately jump to her feet.

'What the hell??' she screamed.

'Yes! What the what? Who are you and why did you try to kill me?'

The voice came from somewhere below, so Sarah assumed that whatever she was talking to, he or she was not very tall.

'I am sorry I did not try to kill you. I was not even aware of your existence a moment ago,' Sarah tried to apologize.

'How can you not be aware of MY existence, when I am very much aware of YOURS! And still, I did not try to kill you although I was aware of you.'

Sarah furrowed her brows.

'You can see me?'

'What kind of question is this?'

'Well, but it's pitch black in here, I can not see anything.'

The creature at her feet laughed.

'You must have a very bad eye sight if you can not see in here. It's bright as daylight in this room.'

Sarah let her head fall to the side and looked very much confused.

'What kind of creature are you then?' she asked, hoping she would not offend it with this.

'I am a bat and you are?'

'Human.'

'Never heard of hu-man? And if I may say so, you like rather odd. No wonder the king put you in here. It must be awful for the goblins to look at something this hideous.'

Sarah immediately felt sorry, that she did not offend it. This bat was a rather rude one, but right now it was her only hope.

'What is your name?' she asked.

'I am Batilda.'

'I am Sarah, nice to meet you.' she smiled at where she hope Batilda might be sitting.

'Batilda, do you happen to know a way out of here?' Sarah asked nonchalantly.

'Out? Why would anyone would like to go out at this time of the day?'

'Well I am just curious. If I would like to go out, would it be possible?'

The little bat made a sound as if it flapped with her wings.

'Sure, how do you think I would have come in here, if there was no way out?'

It was always the same with the creatures in the Labyrinth, it was impossible that they would answer straight away.

She thought about the next thing to say and tried to make it as precise as possible.

'Please show me the way out.'

The bat seemed to be taken aback for a while, maybe considering the answer.

'I can not show you. As you already explained to me, you can not see anything.'

Sarah resisted the urge to strangle Batilda as it went on to speak.

'But I can lead you out all the same.'

'Really?' Sarah was so happy, she would have hugged the bat if she would have been able to see her.

'Thank you, thank you very much!'

Suddenly Sarah felt something flapping around her head and she wanted to slap at it, but held still for now. The bat landed directly on her head and started to give her instructions.

'Walk straight forward.'

Sarah gave a small nod, careful not to throw the bat off balance.

'Stop,' the bat instructed further. 'Move your hand up. Yes and now stop. Turn it right, yes, stop, and now push!'  
Sarah did as she was told and the wall under her hand was moving until it opened up in one smooth movement. Before her she could see a dimly lit was, that resembled a lot the was were she had met the cleaners.

Since Sarah was now able to see the way for herself she was able to move much faster into the direction Batilda was instructing her. Finally they came to a ladder.

'So you simply climb this one up and you will pop up in the Goblin City marketplace.'

'The Goblin City? You mean this ladder leads straight into the city with the castle?'

The bat was shaking her head.

'Do you know any other Goblin city?'

'No.'

'Then you know which city this ladder will lead you to.'

Sarah gave up on the topic and simply thanked the small bat over and over again for the help. Sadly she had nothing to offer Batilda so she only waved her goodbye, before slowly climbing up the steps.

 

It was a very long way up and Sarah had the feeling like this ladder was endless. Finally she saw some lights pop up and it seemed like she was approaching from under a gully cover.

When she reached it the spied through the holes. There was not much to see, it was getting dark already. She listened if there was anything suspicious to hear, but she heard no sound at all.

She put both hands at the cover and pushed it with all her remaining strength. To her relief it was moving easily and she slowly poked her head out of her hole.

This was indeed the Goblin City. But there were no Goblins in the streets. Sarah was not sure if this was a good sign or a bad one. She carefully climbed out of the tunnel and was searching for the castle.

She spotted it not too far away and walked into its direction, always checking for Goblins to avoid any contact.

While the castle came closer she had mixed feelings. She did not know how much time had passed while she had been trapped in the oubliette. Maybe the Goblins were not attacking, sine it did not matter anymore, since she had already lost.

But there was also a small possibility that she had still a little bit time left to end this once and for all. Sarah slowed down her pace. She did not feel ready to face Jareth again. She felt devastated that she had shared this one dream with him. If he would make her stay she would rather kill herself or him she added.

She would be a much kinder Goblin Queen. Also the first thing of her reign would be to rewrite those stupid contracts. No one should ever experience something like this.

The second thing would be to banish all the chickens from the throne room. This castle really needed some cleaning. And she would prohibit glitter, any kind of it. The excessive use of it in the Labyrinth was ridiculous.

While she tried to distract herself from thinking about Jareth she did not realize that she had already reached the castle.

She slowed a bit down and pushed the old wooden doors of the entrance gate to make way for her.

Inside the castle was as deserted as the city had already been. Sarah peeked around corners, but there was no goblin to be found, not even a chicken.

When she entered the throne room her first act was to check on the old grandfather clock. The pointers were indicating that she still had 10 minutes left. That was much more than she had expected and she furrowed her brows, asking herself if Jareth had turned the time for her. She waved her hand and discarded this thought immediately.

The castle had not changed at all and she followed the spiraling staircase up to the castle tower. To her great surprise there was no Escher room waiting for her, there was absolutely noting special or intimidating at all. She was standing in a normal tower room with windows overlooking the Labyrinth and in the center there was standing Jareth.

He had changed his outfit for something quite simple. He was wearing black, tight trouser combined with a black shirt, that had the obligatory deep cleavage, filled with the golden horned amulet.

When she entered the room Jareth was looking out of one of the windows and Sarah was facing his back.

Since he did not move or speak, Sarah decided to start the conversation and cleared her throat awkwardly.

'Hello Goblin King.'

Sarah kept a healthy distance towards Jareth, but he still was not moving at all.

'It seems as if I won. I reached the castle in time and I would like to return back home, now.'

When Jareth spoke his voice was icy and Sarah winced.

'Yes, it seems so, doesn't it.'

He turned to face Sarah and his eyes were throwing daggers at her, while he crossed his arms defiantly in front of himself. Under normal conditions Sarah would have run away as fast as possible, but she needed to get through with all this in order to return into her normal life.

When Jareth had made it clear to her that she could have not only him but a life of magic and wonders all around her, he had truly touched her heart. She was indeed not eager at all to return to her boring real life. She hated working in her office, although she had nice colleagues, but in the world above there was nothing that made her happy, or to put it even more plain, nothing that could make her as happy as Jareth could.

But Jareth had ruined it all! Sarah was still furious. How did he dare leaver her in the Oubliette after they had shared this very intimate dream together? How could he leave her, when she had, for the first time in her life, the impression, that Jareth might really care for her?

It was all a lie. Jareth was the maker of dream and a dream was the only thing that he was able to give. If she hoped for more, she was damned to become disappointed.

Both were silently watching each other, desperately trying to catch an emotion on the other persons face.

Jareth was the first to break the silence.

'Well...,' but before he could go on, Sarah interrupted him and blurted the only question out, that mattered to her.

'Why the hell did you leave me in the Oubliette?'

Sarah's cheeks were burning, but she really needed an answer from him, but he only gave her a crooked smile, which made Sarah go berserk.

She run into him and shook his shoulders while she screamed. This time Jareth was too slow to dodge her attack.

'YOU! RUINED! EVERYSTHING! Damn you Goblin King!!'

Sarah had not intended to get so close to him, but right now she did not care anymore. Also she had not intended to start crying, but somehow those nasty tears were running down her cheeks and when Jareth still did not reply she put her forehead against his chest and looked at the floor to hide her emotions.

When Jareth started to speak Sarah did not dare to move and the moment she realized what he was saying she even froze at the spot.

'Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered you have fought your way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City to take back the life I have stolen, for my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom as great.'

'No!' Sarah lifted her head up to interrupt him, but he went on.

'You have no power of me.'

His words were cold and bereft of all emotions. Sarah shook her head in disbelief. As she opened her mouth, he went on, his eyes still fixed on hers.

'I really thought, that after all this time, you really don't posses any power over me. Since I have no power over you, I thought it would only be fair, if you as well, have no power over me. But it seems that I was wrong.'

Sarah's look was beyond puzzled, she had no idea were this was heading to, but she did not dare to stop Jareth now from talking.

'I thought, if we repeat the whole Labyrinth thing, I would be able to realize, that there is nothing at all, that would bind me to you. After all you are only a simple human being. But this dream...' Jareth

ruffled his hair in confusion and he stepped back from Sarah.

'This was meant to be a game. A game were I win and I would have if I had not asked you to share your dreams with me. And that's were I completely lost control over everything. I wanted you to stay forever, I wanted you to stay by my side and I was sure I would kill everyone who would try to steal you away from me. I was not able to think, I was not able to breathe. That's when I realized it must stop and therefore I left you in the Obliette, to forget about you.'

Jareth crossed his arms and looked out of the window, his mind in thoughts far away. When he turned back to her he furrowed his brows.

'But I would not have been able to forget about you dear Sarah. You have too much power over me, which is why I let you win and turned back the time in order to make it happen. You will go back and we won't ever see each other again, which is thankfully sealed by a magical contract. This way you get what you want and I will be save from your influence.'

'Wait!' Sarah protested 'My influence? What about your influence on me? Do you think that I will be able to return and go on as if nothing had happened? Are you kidding me?'

Sarah huffed a few times to calm herself and went on.

'I don't know where you are getting the idea from that you have no power over me, but I can assure you, you have! A! Lot!'

The Goblin King's look changed from determined to puzzled, then again he put his hands on his hips and laughed.

Sarah felt humiliation wash over her again, but endured the moment until Jareth fell silent.

'Goblin King, what exactly does this magical contract say about what happens to the winner?'

'The winner can choose where he wants to go,' Jareth answered and tilted his head.

'Ok, good,' Sarah beamed and this time she put her hands at her hips. Jareth immediately realized that Sarah was up to something and in just a few steps he was right at her side, his expression serious.

'What...' he started, but Sarah was faster.

'As the winner, I choose to stay Underground.'

When Sarah said her line she had her eyes fixed on Jareth. He froze at her words and all color drained from his face, he also lost his smug expression and looked as if he turned into stone. Sarah feared for one second that he had even stopped breathing, but then everything happened very quickly. Jareth's lips pressed hard onto hers and his arms were embracing her fiercely.

Now it was Sarah's turn to stop breathing, but she immediately leaned into the kiss and hugged Jareth back.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for making it to the end and please review :)!


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